The Bedemol Crisis
by TheFallenShadow
Summary: Chapter 4 up! This is set way before the actual events of Final Fantasy VII, in a time where Hojo was young, Rufus was a mere teenager, and President Shinra had more hair. But trouble brews when the first Mako shower ever produces nasty results. The Presi
1. Dropping in on the Man Himself

'**If you don't look up now I'm going to have to remove your eyes. Look at me'**

**Reluctantly, I raised my head and stared into the face of a maniac. His features were distorted beyond recognition, namely the eyes, which had been so heavily infused with Mako that they shone like lights, leaving a blurring after image of green every time the hideous creature turned its head. I knew better that not to cooperate. I'd seen what this abomination had done to the previous victim. Only a few hours ago…**

**We all piled into the lift, Reno at the front, and us Shinra grunts squashed together at the back. Pretty soon we'd be on parade in the president's office, most likely for a trivial award ceremony. Maybe I'd get the 'More Shooting, Less Asking Questions Trophy'… Nah. On second thoughts, that'd go to Rude.**

**Reno adjusted his suit in the reflection of the elevator's glass, then looked over his shoulder at us.**

'**C'mon you three, check your uniform. Anybody who screws up will be thrown into a world of pain by Rude and I…' He grinned. **

**I drew my own rifle from its holster and did a last minute NSP (Normal Safety Precaution). All clear. So was Fox. Too bad for Jennings, though. There seemed to be something wrong with the cocking handle, he couldn't even open the dust cover… **

'**Pass it here,' I grunted, and forced the weapon open, giving it a once over, 'Yeah, it's clear,'**

'**Shut up, Hudson,' Reno growled without looking away from his reflection.**

'**Sir,' I replied and remained quiet for the rest of the journey to the sixtieth floor…**

**I'd only ever been in the president's office a few times, mainly when I'd first signed up, and three or four other occasions when there was a special even like an award ceremony. You could have stuffed at least two hundred soldiers in there, but the president obviously like his space. A light flashed above the elevator door, and we all stepped out, Reno at the front, me taking up the rear. As if anyone could break into Shinra, let alone get in the elevator! **

**'Fall in!' He yelled, as we hurried to get into order of size. Ten seconds later he took his position in front of us.**

'**Paaarade! Paaaarade-Shuuun!' He boomed, as we all braced up and stamped in. What an idiot…most Shinra officers just grabbed a few chairs and threw us in front of the big cheese. What a carry on…**

**We marched into Shinra's enormous office and lined up in front of him. Heidegger was here and Scarlet. Odd. After some pointless waffle with the president, Reno took his place behind us. It seemed to have slipped his mind that he was a Turk, not a drill sergeant. Oh well.**

**'Gentleman,' Shinra began, 'there has been a slight misunderstanding concerning Mako research. As you all know, we are in the very early stages of this new project, and…accidents do happen' He paused to press a button on the inside of his desk. A large screen on top of the desk buzzed into action, a surveillance camera. It showed a tall figure being strapped into some kind of bed nailed into the wall. Judging by the sounds he was making, the poor guy knew exactly what they were going to give him: a Mark 1, untested, highly dangerous yet groundbreaking Mako shower.**


	2. Military Jargon

**'Damn,' Jennings grimaced as the experiment began,' he gonna be uglier than a behemoth when they done with him!'**

**Reno jabbed him in the back with his stun prod. He shut up. Shinra circled around his desk so he was directly in front of me. He nodded towards the screen.**

'**This is surveillance footage of an Experimental Mako shower that took place at 1700 hours yesterday,'**

'**What happened to the subject, sir?' Reno asked, trying to sound interested without his voice betraying him. Shinra raised his eyebrows, spun around in his polished shoes, and grabbed a remote of his desk with a podgy hand.**

'**This,' he replied, pressing the fast forward button the remote, 'is how he was just a few hours ago, after exposure of course…'**

**We all glued our eyes to the screen, which showed the subject writhing around as the Mako cascaded over him. Soon, two guards whizzed in and injected sedatives into his left arm. For a long time, nothing, just a drowsy test subject, until-**

'**Whoa!' Jennings pointed at the screen, 'His arm, what the hell is happening to his arm?' **

**I squinted at the image, and heard Reno gasp behind me. The subjects' arm appeared to have turned a dull shade of pink, and was way longer than his other one. As I looked even closer I noticed something poking out from his elbows.**

**Tentacles.**

'**What the hell?' Jennings stuttered, 'What's up with him?'**

'**Shut up!' Reno accompanied the command with yet another jab from the stun prod.**

**We all watched in horror as one of the scientists approached the subject, obviously unawares of the mutation. As he bent over to leave the tray on the floor, the tentacle darted out of the subject's arm and wrapped it around the scientist with what must have been the strength of a python. The test subject threw its victim with impossible might straight at the camera, and the screen turned to white noise seconds before the horrified face of the scientist smashed into the nearby wall. Shinra switched of the screen and set the remote down on his desk. He looked up at us, and began to pace up and down, eyeing each of us up.**

'**As you can see,' he began, 'something has gone horribly wrong with test subject 001,'**

'**You don't say!' Jennings whispered, and received his third jab from the stun prod. Someone wasn't gonna be sitting down anytime soon…**

**Shinra continued his speech, which was turning into a briefing. **

'**This could be a PR disaster if word gets out to our….beloved public. So, I want you to take out this creature,'**

**Jennings pulled a face.**

'**Wha? Isn't this a job for some kind of crack unit? We don't have the training for dealing with that thing!' He exclaimed, pointing frantically at the screen.**

**Shinra glanced over at Reno, who nodded. **

'**Think of it this way, Jennings,' Reno snapped in his ear, 'you pull this off and you _are _the crack unit. Move out!'**


	3. Lock and Load Or something like that

**Two hours later we were all sitting in the armoury waiting for the all clear command. Tedious and dull, but necessary. Last time there'd been a problem with rioting, and they'd sent a squad down to keep in under the control. The slightly timid commanding officer had given them all riot batons to deal with the mobs, but some bright spark forgot to mention that the rioters were profession mercenaries with large guns. D Squadron got its ass kicked, and ever since then, Intel had to be checked, double checked , and checked again. Or so they said.**

**The two others in my squad, Jennings and Fox were both cleaning their rifles, safety checking grenades, and various other things to keep them busy. Me, I'd checked all my stuff minutes after we were issued with it, and it was unlikely that my gun had jammed up in the trip from floor fifty five to fifty four. Then again, you never know.**

**Reno leant against the wall in the corner, head down and arms folded. Cool as a cucumber. None of us were really sure why a Turk had been attached to out unit, Shinra Corp. usually preferred to keep its own with its own. Rarely did employees mix with members of SOLDIER, and vice versa. But once the Mako tests were over, that would all clam down.**

**Personally, I was relieved that I was going on this mission, as eventually we troops would be getting Mako showers, not the unlucky punters off the streets. It would be fascinating to see the results of showering gone wrong. **

'**Hey, Hudson!' Jennings jeered, swinging his rifle over his shoulder like some kind of buster sword, 'How would you like one of those crazy arm things, huh? That'd be so cool!'**

**I frowned, and returned to the briefing notes that I was flipping through. Reno lifted his head and sighed.**

'**Jennings, you just don't get it, do you? Why do you think they scrape the bucket and come up with a load of SOLDIER grunts, a.k.a, you guys, to take out that freak? You saw what it did to that shrink on surveillance, right?'**

'**Yeah,'**

'**And you read those briefing notes?' He pointed at the file in my hands.**

'**Sure,' Jennings replied, letting the rifle fall down to his side.**

'**Well read 'em again, cowboy,' Reno jeered, toying with his stun prod, 'Cause your badass monster deteriorates over time, at least according to that file. What we saw happened hours ago, so by now, that freak with the tentacle strapped to his arm may even be normal. But it's unlikely…' He stood up, and I felt a speech coming on. He always acted like there was a high ranking officer in the room, constantly fishing for compliments.**

'**What I believe,' Reno began, 'Is that our target will have died already due to the fact that he isn't used to the Mako. His body will have tried to reject it, and by doing so, he probably lost a couple pints of the red stuff. This is a clean up job,' he leant back against the wall and pointed at the elevator doors to the Research Level. 'When we get the all clear, be prepared to grab a mop and start cleaning up a pretty big mess.' **

**I shrugged and finished reading the last pages of the briefing files. What Reno had said was totally out of context, and an exaggeration. If we were lucky tonight, we may just get some action. **

**Pretty soon, the door went green light, and Reno got a radio message from Intel, telling us to go in when ready. Perfect.**

'**Alright, Jennings. Fox. Hudson. Get in there, and kick ass,' **

**I stopped dead in my tracks just outside the elevator.**

'**Huh? You're not going with us, Reno?' **

**He grinned, and stepped into the back of the lift. **

'**Relax Hudson,' He replied, 'I'll be in contact by radio,' and with that, he hit the button on the pad, and began ascent to a safer level of the HQ. Fox summed up all our sentiments by spitting on the ground.**

'**Damn,' he snarled, 'knew that guy was too high up to muck in with us,'**

'**Bloody Turks,' Jennings muttered, 'Well, the next in charge would be….,' He grinned at me, 'You, Hudson, you lucky thing!'**

'**Whatever,' I shrugged. 'Let's move out.'**


	4. A spot of R&R

No sooner had Reno pushed off, and I inherited command, we dplit up and searched the first room, checking under everything-derelict chairs, broken sofas- it must have been some Rec, Room.

'Hey,' Jennings quipped, as he rifled through a wall cupboard, 'you ever see the movie Things From Cosmo Canyon?' I shook my head, but Fox put down an old ceramic mug and chuckled.

'Hell yeah. It's still showing in Sector 8, that huge cinema there. Sacred me shitless…' He shrugged.

'Why's that?' I asked casually. Jennings took over.

'Well, its set in this place called Cosmo Canyon. Basically, this giant airship just crashes nearby, and out of it come these…parasite things,'

'They came out of the Airship,' Fox continued, 'and started killing everything in the nearby village,'

'They were tiny, about this big, 'Jennings held up his fist, 'and there was this part when some of them hid under a bed, and this old floating guy came in, and-'

I held up a hand. 'Okay, okay, I'll go see it, alright? Just don't ruin the ending now.' I shouldered my rifle, and pointed at the door leading deeper inside.

'Jennings, head out, nice and slow. Check for anything nasty, and keep your spacing, people,' Jennings stepped up to the keypad and shoved a card hard into the slot. Too hard.

'Oh, shit,'

'What is it, Jennings?'

'I think I've broken the damn thing,'

Before I could do anything, Fox strode over, and slammed the butt of his rifle against the door itself. He made a large dent, then slid part of it back into the wall, leaving it partially open.

'Stupid things can be opened by hand in an emergency,' Fox stepped through. 'Just don't tell anyone who's Anti-Shinra,'

We all slid through the opening in the door, then cleared the next room without finding anything, except the usual clutter on the floor.

'This ain't right,' I mused. 'Should be a little rougher in here…'

Jennings reached over his shoulders, into his webbing, and dragged out a handheld computer. After switching it on, the Shinra grunt tapped a few keys, then smiled as a map appeared in ultra violet on the screen.

'The rooms we just passed are protected by that door there-' he jabbed a finger at a large, Level 6 clearance door at the opposite end of the room. 'That Mako thing can't get in here, not yet. If we do bust in, and start kicking ass, then the damn thing can just deck us all, the walse up into the elevator, which'll makes things ugly for our friend the president.' He snapped the handheld shut, and slid it back into its holster. All eyes on me.

'Okay, then,' I said. 'One of the stiffs from floor sixty got a little pissed off last week, and threw his key card in the waste paper bin. This card,' I held up a small, purple disk. 'Dunno what the poor bastard's up to now, but I doubt he needs it as much as we do,' Inwardly, I breathed a sight of relief that employees got a rough pay. Otherwise, I'd have never got the card, and we'd have gone down here even worse for wear.

'We get in' I continued, 'and then seal the door shut behind us. Fox shot me a strange glance.

'That thing's almost human. I _think _it can still probably use keycards,'

'I know,' I replied, 'that's why after we do get in, we'll squeeze off a few rounds into the control pad. Don't worry about getting back out, I'm sure Reno'll think of something as long as we send a transmission back up there. Any questions?'

There weren't any, so we got stuck in.

Jennings sighed as he blew open the control panel with a quick, accurate burst from his rifle. No one else was to bothered, so I pocketed the now useless key card, and led the squad through a narrow corridor. After about ten metres it split into two, signposted each way. I ordered halt, and we gathered at the fork in the path. The signs were old, rusted, and only just legible.

'Okay…left for Mako testing tube, and right for…scientists quarters? What the hell?' I shook my head.

If a Shinra employee was tired, he went to the restroom about seventy floors up. If he'd just finished a long shift, he'd catch a train back to his sector, just like everyone else. Only Shinra grunts like us, SOLDIER, and the Turks stayed overnight in the barracks, but even some of the higher ranks were rumoured to have a shag house in somewhere like North Coral. Scientists who worked around the clock would be on something huge, but up until now, Mako showering had seemed like a pretty minor thing. I knew precious little about it. Apparently, it made you a little stronger. So what? Sharper weapons and Materia make you stronger, so what's the point in this Mako stuff. It wasn't until we saw the mutation on video that I found out just how powerful it was. But to have people down here, working away, 24/7…

'Get ready,' I nudged Fox. 'We might have some survivors,' He and Jennings looked up at the sign, then nodded. Right it was, then.

'Go careful on who you shoot,' I called over my shoulder as we advanced. Then, I remembered what that Mako thing had done to one of the scientists. 'Uh…actually, don't bother. I wouldn't expect to see anyone down here except Mr. Ugly himself.'

Jennings, Fox and I entered a small door with no keypad, into a dormitory. Whoever lived there had made themselves at home. Posters adorned the walls around the bunk beds, mostly the latest film stars from Sector 8. I caught a 'Things from Cosmo Canyon' poster pinned up against a bed covered in reference books. In the corner was a small kitchen, the smell of old popcorn and stale coffee was still in the air.

'Yuck…' Jennings muttered, as he leaned over a mug of black coffee.

'What's up?' Fox asked.

'These crazy bastards use De-Caff!'

We all sighed in mock sadness.

After sweeping the room thoroughly, I decided that we all deserved a quick break; Reno probably thought we were dead already, so it really didn't matter how long we took. Damn, I wasn't expecting us to come out of this one alive, but before a mission, you just accept that, and carry on. If we did, however, I wanted a direct promotion to SOLDIER. That's the way I like it, baby.

In the fridge, there was chocolate, lemon soda, candy, coffee (de-caff, as Jennings kept moaning on about,) alcohol, and some ancient looking tea bags. We may be a little gung-ho, but we sure as hell weren't stupid. No one touched the alcohol, partly because it would be unprofessional…and partly because the volume was so low it wasn't worth drinking anyway.

'Stupid stiffs,' Jennings giggled, as he cracked open a can of soda, and crashed out on a torn up couch. Fox and I stood, keeping the weapons at our sides, and sipping cold lemonade.

'Who said grunt work had no advantages?' Fox laughed, as he finished the soda in two gulps, and threw the can at Jennings head. It impacted on the back of the skull, and bounced straight into the open fridge, knocking over a glass bottle.

'Oh, shit…' We all murmured as the bottle wobbled precariously, then fell backwards on itself into the fridge, undamaged. Jennings burst out laughing, and sprayed soda all over the wall.

'Ok,' I broke the chit chat after about five minutes. 'Stand to, we're going back on shift,' Instantly, Jennings and Fox threw away their second, third, and fourth cans, grabbed rifles, and stood in front of me.

'I want an even spacing,' I instructed. 'While you two took a quick spell of R and R, I had a look around the quarters. I found a bathroom, but it's locked. You know how thorough we gotta be, and for all we know, there could be survivors in there, or worse. Off you go.'

They nodded, and headed out to where I was pointing, a small door behind the final row of bunk beds. Jennings crouched down behind Fox, who was pushed up against the wall. They wanted me to bust in, and kick ass if anything nasty was inside. Fine by me, I was, after all, in charge.

Raising my rifle so I could see right down the sight, I stepped over to the door, and, after getting a thumbs up from Fox, grabbed the handle, Turning it hard, I shoved open the door and ran in, adrenaline taking over straight way. I was vaguely aware of Fox coming up behind me, followed by Jennings. We swept our sights over the whole room, and the adrenaline died down.

'It's empty…' Jennings said, and lowered his rifle.

'Wait a second,' I raised a hand. 'That shower curtain…'

There was something wrong. No wind could get into the bathroom from anywhere, but the curtain was blowing around like a light breeze had kept in with us.

'You're right…Let me check it…' Jennings quipped, all macho, and reached for the edge of the curtain. He grabbed, twisted it, then tugged, and-

-and a huge, hideous creature leapt out of the shower cubicle. It hit him full on in the chest, landed across his body on all fours.

'No way…' I gasped, 'that thing's human!'

The thing threw back its head, to reveal long fangs, and roared. Fox and I cocked our rifles, took aim, and open fired.


End file.
